What Are Friends For
by Aitsufaenina
Summary: Hermione was ecstatic when McGonnigal accepted her as the Transfigurations Apprentice, but her lifelong dream is ruined by the arrival of the new DADA Apprentice Draco Malfoy who is also rooming just across the hall. Oh did I mention the roofie?
1. Midnight Revelries

Quick Author's Note:

The story is set after the Hermione and Draco's 7th year. They are living in Hogwarts during their apprenticeship. Harry killed Voldemort at some point (not going to be relevant to the story, so you the reader can decide how the dark lord perished.) Dumbledore did not die. Snape did not die. And that's all you need to know, happy reading!

oo0oo

Hermione threw her pillow at the door when she couldn't ignore the knocking any longer. Knock. Knock! Knock Knock KNOCK! "I'm coming!" Hermione screamed at the door. She glanced at the clock by her bed. It was two in the morning. Hermione wanted to scream at whoever was disrupting her desperately needed sleep. "I'm up, stop knocking!" Hermione rolled out of bed and opened her door. It was dark out and she couldn't see anything so she poked her head out into the cold corridor only to find more darkness. "Hello?" Hermione called out. When no one answered she turned back into her room, mind fuzzy from sleep and silent fury.

Before she could close the door and crawl back into bed Hermione lurched forward as something fell on her back.

Draco managed to stumble to an unsteady standing position leaving Hermione agape on the floor. "Malfoy?" She finally sputtered out, still confused but quickly sobering up. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Hermione stayed on the floor, trying to remember where she had put her wand before going to sleep.

"What'dya mean what am I doin' 'ere." Draco slurred heavily. "I should be askin' what a'ya doin' in mah chambers!" Fire whisky vapor clouds formed at each word. Even from the floor Hermione cringed at the offensive smell. "Well Grangah? What'dya have ta say for youself?" Draco stumbled but managed to catch himself before falling.

Hermione's grogginess was quickly fading. After listening to Draco's drunken mumbles Hermione knew she had to get him out of her chambers before she strangled the drunk ferret. "Malfoy," Hermione ground out through gritted teeth. "I'm sure that in your drunken state you are unable to determine which your proper chambers are but I am quite certain that this is my room, your room is unfortunately just across the hall. I would appreciate it if you could remove your offensive person from my private room."

"Huh?" Draco looked at Hermione, confused. "Could ya repeat that? Small words Grangah, smaaaaall." He fell back and managed to lean against a sturdy wall for support.

Hermione wanted to scream at him. It was still very dark and all she could see was his blond hair shinning from the dim moonlight. Instead of violence Hermione walked over to her bed and started patting her nightstand. She continued fumbling around until she managed to find her wand which was tucked into a book she had been reading, as an impromptu bookmark. "Lumos." The tip of her wand glowed with magical light, illuminating the small but tidy room.

With the light Hermione was able to see how plastered Draco was. He was missing his robes and was only wearing black trousers, a rumpled white button down, and that he only had one shoe on. He shivered as a draft of cold air hit him. "What happened to you?" Hermione asked, not expecting a lucid reply. He had obviously been drinking, but even she was surprised to see Malfoy this inebriated and so... exposed. Hermione had never seen Malfoy drunk, not even tipsy even after several shots of hard alcohol. She sighed, cursing who ever decided that she would have to room next to Malfoy. "Come on, let's get you to bed." She said dejectedly.

Malfoy hiccupped in response, hitting Hermione with another blast of fire whisky vapor.

"Ew, you're a nasty drunk." Hermione gingerly took Draco by the arm and began leading him across the hall. He was surprisingly docile and followed her. She tried turning the knob but it was locked. "Would you happen to have the key to your room?"

Draco grunted.

"Key. Shiny. Shiny key?" Hermione tried to dumb it down.

Draco grunted.

Hermione could tell this wasn't going anywhere. To her eternal horror Hermione found herself actually patting Draco Malfoy's trouser pockets to check if there was a key, there was not. She looked back at the door. She could sense the powerful wards that would prevent her from trying any magic on the door. She tried anyway. "Alohamora." The magic backfired on her and shocked her hand. Hermione yelped and nearly dropped her wand. "Ugh, you stupid git and your freakish paranoia." She kicked the door but ended up just stubbing her toe. "Not only do you rudely awaken me but your stuff has to try and hurt me too, bloody hell Malfoy." She was about to curse him off some more but when she saw his heavy lidded eyes Hermione stopped. Draco was about to fall over from exhaustion and drunkenness. He was barely standing, mostly just leaning against the wall. "You know if Harry or Ron were in my position they would have left you to sleep on the cold hard floor till you woke up tomorrow morning with a hangover and a cold." She cringed inside. "I really should you know. You've been a right prat to me all seven years, barely even talked nice to me after the war; I see no reason why I should do any favors for you." She knew he couldn't understand her, but it felt better than just trying to reason it out in her head.

Draco's head slumped forward, rousing him awake. He yelped which reminded Hermione of a lost puppy she had taken care of as a child. She sighed again, refusing to believe what she was going to do next. "Come on then, I can't leave you out here in good conscience. And I'm in no mood to escort a drunk man to Madam Pomfrey in the middle of the night." She led him back to her room, propping him up against her closed door. She rummaged around in her dresser until she found what she had been looking for.

Hermione pulled out some extra blankets she kept for cold nights and an extra pillow that she found too fluffy for her taste. She set everything up by the fire place, not too close to risk him falling into the hearth but close enough that he wouldn't be too cold on her floor. She had to lead Draco to his improvised bed and she basically forced him to lie down. She even performed a quick cleansing charm for his teeth. Years of living with her muggle dentist parents wouldn't let her just let him sleep without at least a simple cleansing charm, who knows what kind of cavities he could amass in one reckless night.

When Draco was properly situated Hermione crawled back into bed. It was almost three by then. She set up some simple wards around her bed that would tell her if Draco awoke before her. "Goodnight Malfoy. Not that you care what I say. I'll deal with you tomorrow, tonight I need some sleep." Hermione knew he was already fast asleep when she called out to him, his light snores barely audible next to the crackling of the fire.


	2. Flunitrazapam

Draco turned over. His back and neck ached painfully. _Why is my bed so hard. I paid too much for this mattress to wake up feeling like this_. He tried opening his eyes but closed it when a shooting pain exploded in his head. "Shit!" Draco pressed to heel of his palms to his eyes to prevent more light from invading his over sensitized eyes. He sat up slowly, rotating his stiff torso and flexing his frozen fingers. He felt so cold.

When Draco could finally open his eyes without crying out in pain he tried to figure out his current situation. He was on the ground. Draco frowned. _Why was he on the ground_. He was sitting by a fireplace, and it wasn't his. And he was sitting on a pile of old scratchy blankets that were also not his. Then Draco tried to find his bed but instead of an ornate four poster bed he was surprised to see a simple twin sized bed, with a small blanket lump on top.

_What the hell? _Draco's head was spinning. Where was he and what happened last night. He massaged his temples and tried to remember but everything was a black fuzzy blur. Images started flashing but they were so blurry that he couldn't recognize specifics. Wait, something began clearing up. Blaise. Blaise!

Draco remembered seeing Blaise last night. That was all he could remember. "Blaise visited last night... I think." Draco mumbled under his breath. "What did we do?..." Draco shut up when he heard a moan from the bed. He couldn't remember how he ended up here, and he still didn't know where here was exactly. Draco reached into his pockets. "Where is my wand. Shit. I'm going to kill Blaise."

First things first. Draco needed to know where he was and who had set him up for the night. He stood up tentatively, using a nearby wall to help prop him up. When he was sure he wasn't going to fall flat on his face he started walking to the bed. Before he got too close his stomach began grumbling. He was hungry, starving in fact. Maybe the sleeping person could get him a meal.

Draco coughed.

Hermione rolled over. She waved her hand inadvertently using wandless magic to turn off her wards which were infuriatingly trying to wake her. _Five more minutes._

Draco was about to cough again until he saw the nest of brown hair. A vertiable ball of frizzy brown fluff. Draco blanched. He took another look around the room. All around the walls stood bookshelves filled with books upon books. He desperately wished he was hallucinating and that this was all a dream or even a really bad acid trip. He didn't want to believe that he was in Granger's, Hermione Granger's, the golden girl's room. And that she had let him sleep on her floor while he had what, passed out drunk? Draco gagged.

Making sure he was leaving nothing behind he ran out of Hermione's room. He ran straight to his door. Draco grabbed the door knob and turned it, shaking the door frame violently when it wouldn't budge. "Shit!" He didn't have his key on him nor his wand, he was trapped out of his own room. He had to think of something quick.

oo0oo

Taking a leisurely walk around the castle Dumbledore was surprised when he was almost bowled over in the empty halls. He refrained from making a sound. Dumbledore just watched as the disheveled young man stumbled towards the dungeons unaware he had bumped into the old man. Dumbledoor tugged on his beard, silently chuckling at Draco's appearance. He would be putting this memory in his pensive. It's a special day when one caught a Malfoy less than impeccable let alone missing an entire shoe. Dumbledore chuckled again.

oo0oo

"Severus!" Draco bellowed, slamming his godfather's door open. He instantly regretted it when a hex barely missed his head. Draco turned his head to see a scorch mark on the door just three inches to his right. Draco threw his hands in the air and squealed. "IT'S DRACO!"

When Snape saw that it was just his annoying godson he slumped back to the floor. "Shut up and leave me in peace, before I hex your brains to the wall since you don't seem to be using it at the moment." Snape was sprawled out on the floor in front of his fireplace. The fire was still burning strong emanating enough heat to comfortably warm the half naked potion master laying on a luscious black rug. His gaunt back was crisscrossed with ropy scars, just looking at the other man clad only in black troursers gave Draco the shivers.

Listening to Draco's impatient pacing for several minutes finally irritated Snape enough to rouse him to a half sitting position. "If you're not going to leave me in peace tell me what is so important at six in the morning. And don't tell me its about a wench or no amount of begging will save you from my wrath."

Draco plopped down onto a nearby chair, cringing when he realized it was as comfortable as a rock. "I uh..." Draco stuttered when he noticed the copious amount of fire whisky bottles littered around the room. "...what happened last night?"

Snape groaned and laid back down. His head was pounding. He was getting too old for this kind of shit. "Are you telling me you have no idea what happened last night?"

Draco groaned.

Snape scoffed. When he saw his godson's fearful expression he couldn't help but release a malicious chuckle. "Then you have no idea what we did to you..." Snape chuckled again.

"The few things I can remember is Blaise, you, and something about a..." Draco clutched his head. "Oh, yeah a rudi, no a roopa, maybe a reefi? Oh sod it, I can't remember anything." Draco dropped his head in his hands again.

"I believe Mr. Zabini called it a roofie. Though its formal name is Flunitrazepam, very illegal in the muggle world."

"What does it do?" Draco gulped, Flunitrazapam sounded worse than the Horocruxes.

"Well for one thing it induces short term amnesia. As you can see for yourself." Snape smirked then he stood up languidly, like a predator cat. He walked over to the chair where he had draped his heavy robes. He wrapped the heavy wool around him, slowly buttoning it up.

Draco was afraid to ask. "What did I..." He gulped. "What did I do last night?"

"That is for me to know and for you to regret for the rest of your life." Snape reached into his robes and pulled out Draco's wand covered in a dark viscous liquid. "Great I'll have to get this robe deep cleaned. Oh here's your wand." Snape tossed the soggy piece of wood over to Draco.

Draco caught it reluctantly. "Uh thanks." Draco tried to wipe as much of the liquid as he could on his already soiled trousers. "Can you at least tell me what happened when I left and how I fell asleep in-" He was about to say Granger's name but caught himself in time. "And where did my room key go?" It was obvious Snape wasn't going to answer any of his questions about what they did last night, the last thing he wanted to do was incur the grouch's hangover wrath.

"Check the sandwich lying on the counter. And I have no idea nor do I care what happened after you left my chambers. Why did you wake up in a compromising position?" Snape asked nonchalantly.

"Sandwich?" Draco sputtered. Snape dismissed him with a wave without even looking up as he began cleaning his trashed bachelor pad. Draco closed his mouth and walked over to the cracked plate that held a molding sandwich. Draco groaned in disgust as he pulled up the top slice of bread revealing his key embedded in a putrid dollop of mayonnaise_. What is it with my stuff being covered by nasty fluids_. Draco gagged inwardly. Feeling a little unsure of himself at the moment Draco decided to help Snape clean up. He decided that after he got back to his rooms he would be owling Mr. Zabini, maybe even a howler, no that would be to juvenile for a Malfoy. He hated being kept in the dark. Then there was waking up in Her- Granger's room. Snape obviously didn't know about that but he wondered what the witch's motives were, or what had transpired between them.

He had woken up on the floor with no visible sign of attack, cursing, or hexing. She was peacefully asleep. He had blankets and a pillow. So it couldn't have been too bad. But it was Granger. Draco's guilt and pride prevented him from showing even a smidge of kindness to her, even when they were rooming just across the hall from each other. Oh gods he needed to do some damage control.

Draco made a to do list in his head. 1. Get cleaned up and have a big breakfast. 2. Owl Blaise and demand to find out what the hell happened to him last night. 3. Deal with Granger.

He decided that it would be best to deal with 1 and 2 before even seeing or talking to Granger, that meant avoiding her.

Severus nodded a silent thanks to Draco when they finished cleaning up. Draco had found his robes and missing shoe stashed behind one of Snape's bookcases. With everything accounted for Draco made his way back to his rooms. He wished desperately wished that Hermione had left for the great hall or was eating in her room, he wasn't up to his normal sneak mode.

oo0oo

Hermione was jolted awake by her dream. She shook her head trying to get the images of albino rodents out of her mind. "Ah!" She squealed. Then she remembered setting up Malfoy in her room last night.

Hermione twisted around, only to find a pile of mussed up blankets and a dying fire. "It seems the ferret scampered off while I was asleep." She did a quick visual check of the room to make sure nothing was missing. When everything seemed to be in place she jumped out of bed and began her morning routine.

Hermione had planned to deal with Malfoy that morning but his sudden disappearance made her retract her earlier sleep motivated decision. "Maybe it would be better if I just pretended it never happened." Hermione mused as she brushed her teeth.

Authors Note - Any guesses for the 'dark viscous liquid' in Snape's pocket?

Fun Fact: Roofies are also known as the date rape drug.

Reviews are much loved so feel free to tell me how I'm doing so far. Thanks for reading.


	3. Author's Note

For those who have been reading, thank you so much for your support!

I did not provide a sufficient idea of what is going on when I started. Starting a little _too_ in medias res. I updated the first chapter but this is for those who decided to go on anyways (thank you).

The story is set after the Hermione and Draco's 7th year. They are living in Hogwarts during their apprenticeship. Harry killed Voldemort at some point (not going to be relevant to the story, so you the reader can decide how the dark lord perished.) Dumbledore did not die. Snape did not die. And that's all you need to know, happy reading!

And no, Draco was not raped. He probably would have noticed the next day. Right now, all we know is that he took the drug. This is a straight Hermione/Draco fic there will be no slash, I apologize for misleading anyone.

Thanks again, much love to all my readers.


	4. Sassy Owl

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading!

A beautiful eagle owl tapped furiously on Blaise Zabini's bedroom window. It continued mercilessly until the man rolled out of bed and slammed the window open. "What, what could possibly be this important this early!" Blaise screamed at the poor owl.

It hooted angrily, thrust out his leg, and then tried to nip Blaise's hand as he reached for the letter. When Blaise removed the letter the owl flew over to the other side of the room, perching a top a book case, watching Blaise intently.

_WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LAST NIGHT? _

_- Malfoy _

_P.S. I am in no mood for your bull shit today Blaise. Tell me or I will come to your apartment and hex your bloody balls off. Permanently. _

Blaise chuckled at the threat then clutched his head. "Gods, my head." He walked over to a nearby cabinet and downed a vial of hangover potion. His mind cleared a little but it still felt as if head was full of cotton.

The owl began to fidget and then proceeded to take a shit. "I suppose you're waiting for a response letter?" Blaise asked angrily. The owl hooted.

Blaise sat down at his desk. He shuffled the papers around until he found a clear piece of parchment.

_Malfoy,_

_We got drunk. Really drunk. _

_I brought a muggle drug I bought from a sketchy muggle in London - a roofie. I said it was a date rape drug used to help muggles take advantage of stupid women. _

_You said muggle drugs were shit, couldn't do shit, weren't worth shit, etc..._

_I dared you to take it._

_You took it._

_You acted really funny and then passed out. _

_We __didn't__ touch you._

_When you woke up Severus kicked both of us out of his room and you stumbled away._

_I went home. _

_Blaise_

_P.S. You dance like a cheap whore._

"Come here you stupid owl." The own flew down onto Blaise arm, his talons gripping uncomfortably tight. "Loosen your grip or I'll strangle you right here right now, I know you can understand me." The two glared at each other until the owl finally relented. Blaise finished tying the letter to his leg before chucking the owl out the window. "I hope you get hit by a plane!" He shouted after it.

oo0oo

Draco paced back and forth in his room. The window was opened wide, as Draco waited for his owl to get back. When he felt a flurry of wind he stopped pacing and held out his left arm. His owl alighted gently onto his master's arm. "Good boy Alucard." Draco gave him a treat which he devoured greedily. "You go rest, you must be tired from flying so fast."

Draco didn't even bother closing the window behind his owl before sitting down to read the short letter.

He read it quickly, throwing it angrily at the wall when he read Blaise's infuriating post script.

Barely ten seconds later, Draco reached down to pick up the letter and read it again. When he was sure that Blaise was not lying, Blaise never lied out right and the letter was too straight forward, Draco punched his pillow.

"Why the hell was I in Granger's room?" Draco screamed at the air.

oo0oo

Class was to start in a week and Hermione still didn't feel prepared.

Professor McGonagall had her re-read the same transfiguration text books that she had as a first year. It was unnecessary since she had memorized them even before she first got on the train. She had taken excessive notes on the texts as well as Professor McGonagall's class syllabus with religious zeal. She had her own class syllabus planned out a month ago, modeled directly from Professor McGonagall's.

When she had asked Draco a few days ago he didn't even know what a syllabus was.

Hermione groaned. No, she wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and shake the stupid blond ferret that had invaded her thoughts and now refused to leave her alone.

Ever since the night before she couldn't stop remembering the drunk, sleepy, and very vulnerable Draco who had stumbled into her room.

She even made sure to get her sheets thoroughly washed in hot water by Dobby himself before she put them away.

Hermione shook her head so violently that she was slightly disoriented as she turned the corner.

"Merlin's Beard!" She screamed as she fell on her tail bone the second time in two days. When she opened her eyes she saw the one thing she had been trying to avoid all day.

Draco stood frozen. He had accidentally knocked Hermione to the ground, he was barely fazed. Had she gotten shorter? Draco thought.

He held his hand out to her, which felt strange and very uncharacteristic of him.

"Granger?"


End file.
